It Makes a Difference to the Sheep

According to Rich Lowry, I live within the borders of the "real" (red-state) Virginia (but just barely):

Kathryn, I'm afraid I'm only very technically from a red state. Northern Virginia is not real Virginia. I think you have to be Fredericksburg or south for that. I But I appreciate the thought!

Having lived in both Northern Virginia and Fredericksburg, I can say that there certainly is a different feel to the two places. But I can't quite figure out how one is more "real" than the other.

Just finished watching the first installment of Legend of Earthsea on SciFi. I was very underwhelmed. The acting was wooden, the CGI amateurish, and the plot deviated from the book in innumerable ways both large and small and unnecessary. There is much about Ursula LeGuin's spare, Daoist-influenced Earthsea trilogy (I don't count her later additions as part of a larger Earthsea series becuase they have a very different feel to them) that probably doesn't translate well to the screen. SciFi probably shouldn't have tried to do it. Sigh.